Some fresh faces have arrived on the political scene.
Did you ever have the experience of sitting in your living room on an autumn afternoon, and the sound of a leaf blower stops? And suddenly you feel a sense of relief, because the leaf blower stopped, though you hadn't consciously noticed it was even there. But you notice when it's gone.
That's how I feel about our new players on the political scene, whose presence makes their previous absence suddenly noticeable. One is a porn actress and director named Stephanie Gregory Clifford; better searched by her stage name, Stormy Daniels, or my preferred artistic name she sometimes uses, Stormy Waters.
The others are a whole bunch of kids from all over the United States, born in 2000 and after. Spurred to action by the February 14 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, it would seem that, finally, a new generation is stepping up to the challenges of our world. These are the kids who have declared that there have been enough school (and mall and movie theater and nightclub and concert) shootings and it's time to rein in who gets to have a gun.
You might ask what these two new elements in the discussion have in common, besides being human. The answer is: They have something to say, and nothing to lose. Also, neither are wearing business suits.
I'm writing this article in advance of two big events scheduled to take place during the weekend of March 24-25. They are happening under similar astrology, which will have peaked the evening of March 25, when an interview with Stormy Daniels is scheduled to appear on "60 Minutes." Prior to that, the March for our Lives took place Saturday morning in Washington, DC, and in cities around the country.
As I write, just about everyone appearing in the news is drowning in their own deception: The massive Facebook data heist that helped Trump win (and Trump personally calling Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on getting "reelected"), the FBI being gutted, the Russia probe closing in on Trump's business transactions; while everyone wonders whether Robert Mueller will get fired before he can get to the bottom of the mess. Trump recently fired the secretary of state via Twitter. He's appointed a torturer to lead the CIA. And so on.
"I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also)," Trump tweeted, in response to everyone wanting to shove a fork in his ass. "The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing." As a connoisseur of old quotes, I can tell you that's one that will get better with age.
The week's sunny spot was how the serial bomber in Austin was caught, and then blew himself up, without a single cop getting hurt. We are stretched for good news. Stormy Daniels is good news. Kids rising up against gun violence is good news. Both address two of the most serious issues now in the news: public corruption, and the gun lobby owning Congress and the presidency.
First let's consider Stormy Daniels. The astrology related to her broadcast is directly related to the March for Our Lives protest march the day before. The aspect of the weekend is Venus conjunct Eris.
Daniels had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, shortly after his third wife and now First Lady of the Land, Melania, had given birth to his youngest child, Barron. Then in late 2016, Daniels was paid $130,000 by Michael Cohen, one of Trump's many lawyers, to sign a nondisclosure agreement and to keep silent about the affair. In later news reports, we've also learned that she was allegedly coerced with threats of physical violence, making the $130K a kind of gratuity rather than an incentive.
Despite several legal actions by Daniels to dissolve the NDA, and by Trump's camp to enforce it, Daniels has had already completed the "60 Minutes" interview, though Trump has brought legal action attempting to enforce prior restraint against the CBS network: that is, to have a court block a news outlet from reporting the news, in advance; something unprecedented in US history. That alone tells us where he's coming from.
